Chinatown*
Game of the Year (nominated)
Family Game
Tile-Laying
Economy & Trade
Negotiation
+23 more
- Deutscher Spielepreis 1999🇩🇪
- Spiel des Jahres 1999🇩🇪
- SPIEL'08🎡
- Victory Points as Resource
- Enclosure
- Negotiation
- 20th Century🏛
- 1990s
- Architects
- City Building🏗
- Economics📈
- Alea🇩🇪🏢
- Heidelberger Spieleverlag🇩🇪🏢
- Z-Man Games Inc.🇺🇸🏢
- Enclosure
- 1999📆
- New York🇺🇸
- Victory Points as a Resource
- Investment
- Negotiations
- Trading📈
- Income
- Negotiation🤝
Chinatown is a dynamic negotiation board game where players engage in the strategic acquisition and development of city blocks to establish profitable businesses. It emphasizes trading and deal-making to succeed in a competitive urban landscape.
Gameplay Overview
- Business Development: Players acquire sections of city blocks and place business tiles on them.
- Income Generation: Each tile yields a payout, with completed businesses (comprising 3-6 connected tiles of the same type) offering higher returns.
- Resource Distribution: Resources, including business tiles and locations, are distributed randomly, necessitating strategic trading among players.
Special Features
- Negotiation Focus: The core of the game lies in negotiating trades to acquire matching businesses and adjacent block sections.
- Economic Strategy: Players must balance tile placement, business completion, and negotiation to maximize their earnings.
Conclusion
Chinatown offers a compelling blend of strategy, negotiation, and resource management. It's ideal for players who enjoy games with a heavy emphasis on player interaction and deal-making, set against the backdrop of urban development.
Nominated for 3 awards.
- 👥 3 - 5 Players
- ⏱️ 60 Minutes
- 🧒 12+ years old
- 🧩 Easy to learn
Video reviews, ratings, Let's Plays and tests for Chinatown
We like Chinatown so much that we recommend it in the following board game recommendation lists 2026
- Position 2 in All "Deutscher Spielepreis🇩🇪 1999" game award winners & nominees in comparison
- Position 1 in All "Spiel des Jahres🇩🇪 1999" game award winners & nominees in comparison
- Position 10 in Best games released at SPIEL 2008 in Essen
- Position 5 in Best games where victory points are used as a resource
- Position 9 in Best games where you can enclose areas
- Position 5 in Best games where you can make deals with other players
- Position 26 in The best board games from the 20th century🏛
- Position 21 in The best board games of the 90s
- Position 2 in The Best Board Games with Architects
- Position 22 in The best city building games 🏗
- Position 25 in The best economic games 📈
- Position 8 in The Best Games from Alea 🇩🇪🏢
- Position 13 in The Best Games from Heidelberger Spieleverlag 🇩🇪🏢
- Position 10 in The Best Games from Z-Man Games Inc. 🇺🇸🏢
- Position 9 in The best games in which you can enclose a territory or area
- Position 5 in The best games released in 1999📆
- Position 3 in The best games set in the city of New York in the USA 🇺🇸
- Position 5 in The best games where victory points can be used as a resource
- Position 3 in The best games where you can invest in objects
- Position 5 in The best games where you can make agreements with other players
- Position 7 in The best games where you can trade 📈
- Position 13 in The best games with an income
- Position 12 in The best negotiation games 🤝
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